Mixed tertiary ethers



Patented Aug. 6, 1935 PATENTOF ICE MIXED TERTIARY ETHERS I Theodore Evans, Oakland, and Karl R. Edlund,

Berkeley, Calif., assignors to Shell Development Company, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Delaware This invention relates to mixed tertiary ethers of the general formula R-OR' wherein R represents an aliphatic grouping containing not less than four carbonatoms, one of said carbon atoms being bound to the oxygen atom as well as to three other carbon atoms and R'0 represents an organic residue of a primary or secondary aliphatic alcohol.

We are aware that certain elementary mixed tertiary ethers have been prepared by various processes but to our knowledge no one has prepared the subaltern genera and species which we claim to constitute our invention.

In our copending application, Serial Number 547,784 filed June 29, 1931, we have described a novel Way of preparing these mixed tertiary ethers, i. e., by reacting a tertiary-base olefine (olefines capable of forming tertiary alcohols by hydration) with a hydroxy compound in the presence of a catalyst, preferably sulfuric acid.

Now we have discovered that when said tertiary-base olefines are reacted with primary or secondary aliphatic alcohols, the mixed tertiary ethers produced (normal as Well as isoalkyl ethers) may be used either as such or admixed with other substances, as diluting agents, for solutions of various lacquers and varnishes, for instance, for solutions of nitrocellulose in ethyl acetate, as solvents and as extracting agents for organic substances such as alkaloids, essential oils, essences and the like.

We have prepared mixed ethereal derivatives of tertiary butylene, tertiary amylene, and tertiary hexylene and know that the mixed ethereal derivatives of tertiary heptylene and the higher tertiary-base olefines may be prepared in a similar fashion. More specifically the methyl ether of tertiary heptylene and higher tertiary olefines, the ethyl ethers of tertiary hexylene, tertiary heptylene and higher tertiary olefines, the normal and isopropyl ethers of tertiary amylene, tertiary hexylene, tertiary heptylene and higher tertiary olefines, the normal, isoand secondary butyl ethers of tertiary amylene, tertiary hexylene, tertiary heptylene and higher tertiary olefines, the normal, isoand secondary amyl ethers of tertiary butylene, tertiary amylene, tertiary hexylene, tertiary heptylene and higher tertiary olefines may be prepared in the manner set out in the examples which are illustrative only of the specific compounds described:

Isobutyl tertiary butyl ether.320 gm. isobutyl No Drawing. Application November ;17', 193 1,

" Serial No. 575,634

5 Claims. (01. 260-151) alcohol, 36 gm. H2804, and 200 gm. isobutylene are reacted" at C. forl hour. The mixture is then cooled, poured into dilute caustic and distilled, an azeotropecontaining the isobutyl tertiary butyl ether being collected at 8215 C.83 C. This material is extracted with an equal volume of dilute (2 volumes H20 to 1 volume H2804) H2804, the upper layer dried with K2CO3 and distilled. The pure ether is collected at 113.8 C., some binary isobutyl alcohol-mixed ether azeom trope first comingover at 102 C. (A yield of at least gm. of the pure ether is obtained).

isoamyl tertiary butyl ether. 32() gm. isoamyl 15 alcohol, 36 gm. H2SO4 and 200 gm. isobutylene are reacted at 75 C. for 2 hours. At the end of this time the mixture is cooled, poured into dilute caustic and distilled. The distillate so obtained is treated with an equal volume of aqueous 2O sulfuric acid (17.5 volumes acid to 20 volumes water) the upper layer dried and distilled, whereby the ether is obtained at 140 C. (Yield of at least 100 gm. pure ether is obtained).

III

Secondary butyl tertiary butyl ether.250 gm. secondary butyl alcohol, 270 gm. isobutylene, and 18 gm. sulfuric acid are reacted at 75 C. for a 1 hours. The product is poured into dilute caustic and distilled. The ternary azeotrope is collected at 82 C.83 C. and treated as in the preparation of isobutyl tertiary butyl ether, whereby the ether is obtained at 114 C.115 C. (The yield is at least 75 gm.). 3

Isopropyl tertiary amyl ether.-200 gm. isopropyl alcohol, 300 gm. tertiary base amylene, and 18 gm. H2804 are reacted at 75 C. for 1 40 hours. The product is treated with cold dilute caustic, the residual amylenes removed by distillation, and the upper layer then washed twice with an equal volume of water. The liquid so obtained is dried, treated with a little sodium, 5 and distilled. In this way a small yield (540 gm.) of isopropyl tertiary amyl ether, boiling at 114 C.-115 C. is obtained.

Methyl tertiary hemyl ether.Tertiary base hexylenes were first prepared by scrubbing a hexane-hexylene cut with 65% H2304, diluting the acid layer with water, and boiling out the hydrocarbons. The material so obtained was fur- 65 ther fractionated, the material boiling at C.-72 C. being taken as the desired hexylenes. To convert this to the ether, 350 gm. hexylene, 150 gm. methyl alcohol, and 18 gm. H2804 are reacted at 75 C. for 1 hours. The reaction mixture is washed twice with an equal volume of dilute caustic, dried and distilled. The desired product, probably a mixture of isomeric methyl tertiary hexyl ethers, is obtained at 113 C.; the yield is at least 75 gm.

While we have in the foregoing described in some detail the preferred embodiment of our invention and some variants thereof, it will be understood that this is only for the purpose of making the invention more clear and that the invention is not to be regarded as limited to the details of operation described, nor is it dependent upon the soundness or accuracy of the theories which we have advanced as to the reasons for the advantageous results attained. On the other hand, the invention is to be regarded as limited only by the terms of the accompanying claims, in which it is our intention to claim all novelty inherent therein as broadly as is possible in View of the prior art.

We claim as our invention:

1. The mixed tertiary ether of the formula: R,OR wherein R represents the tertiary amyl, tertiary hexyl or tertiary heptyl radical and R represents an aliphatic radical of a primary or secondary alcohol containing at least three carbon atoms.

2. The mixed tertiary ether of the formula: RO-R' wherein R represents the tertiary amyl, tertiary hexyl or tertiary heptyl radical and R represents a propyl radical.

3. The mixed tertiary ether of the formula: R,OR' wherein R represents the tertiary amyl, tertiary hexyl or tertiary heptyl radical and R, represents a butyl radical of a primary or secondary alcohol.

4. The mixed tertiary ether of the formula: ROR wherein R represents the tertiary amyl, tertiary hexyl or tertiary heptyl radical and R represents an amyl radical of a primary or seconday alcohol.

5. Isopropyl tertiary amyl ether.

THEODORE EVANS. KARL R. EDLUND. 

